Hawaiian Sunshine Delight Cake

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Nikki

This cake will remind you of a pinapple upside down cake without the brown sugar. It is moist, sweet, and will add a little sunshine to brighten your day. The perfect dessert for a summer backyard party.

Cake:
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 Small can mandarin oranges with juice
4 eggs
1 C oil

Beat the eggs together, add in oil.  Stir the dry cake mix into the beaten eggs and oil.  Add the entire can of orange sections, juice and all.  Stir well.  Pour into a 9×13 greased cake pan.  Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Completely cool cake.

Topping:
1 (9 oz) Cool Whip
1 pkg 3.5 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 (20 oz) crushed pinapple with juice

Empty contents of large crushed pineapple into a large bowl.  Stir in instant pudding.  Fold in thawed Cool Whip.  Spread on cooled cake.  Refrigerate.  Serves a summer party of 12 deliciously.

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Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Nikki

This salad can be used as a side salad or a main dish.  My family happens to call it the kitchen sink salad because I normally add any small amounts of left over vegies to the dish.  Carrots, celery, peas, onion, cucumber, well, you get the idea.  Really anything you have that sounds good  add it.



Salad Ingredients
1 Head of cauliflower
2 large bunches of broccoli
Quarter of a pound of fried bacon crumbled into small pieces
Small bite size pieces of any type of cheese

Dressing Ingredients
1 c. Miracle Whip salad dressing
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. vinegar

Mix together and pour over medium shopped flowerettes of cauliflower and broccoli, add cheese and bacon.  Stir and refrigerate for an hour.  If at anytime the salad seems dry you may add a splash or two of milk and stir. Enjoy!

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Skittles Infused Vodka

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Nikki

Infused vodka’s are expensive in speciality stores and even more draining on the pocketbook when going out for a night on the town.  Since I’m not a big bar and club person, I thought I’d try my hand at infusing vodka. with Skittles. This way I can enjoy the best of both worlds.

It’s nothing new.  I see it all over the internet.  There is just something about infusing with the tropical candy that caught my eye.

It’s not difficult by any means.  You sort the colored candy.  Drop 240 of each into each bottle and fill with vodka leaving them sit for hours.

The flavor soaks into the vodka and your left with some white pebbles on the bottom of the bottle.  You strain the white sediment from the top using cheesecloth and enjoy!

Men seem to enjoy the apple and cherry flavored vodka and women the watermelon, cherry and blue raspberry. The blue raspberry is hands down my flavorite. I enjoy mixing it with pink lemonade.

After infusing with Skittles, I have my sights set on Jolly Ranchers and Lifesavers. Guess my summer will be infused with sweetness.

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Cucumber Rye Bread Appetizers

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Nikki

Company coming?  Need a light but satisfying appetizer?  This recipe will fit the bill.

Materials:
2/3 pkg dry Italian dressing mix
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 Cup mayonnaise
Party light rye bread loaf
1-2 cucumbers
Dill weed

Blend first 3 ingredients well.  Spread on party rye breads.  Top each with a thin cucumber slice and sprinkle with dill weed.

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Almond Mocha Mousse

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Nikki

3 Weight Watchers Plus Points per serving
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4-serving package of sugar free instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
1 Cup of cold coffee
1 teaspoon of almond extract
2 Tablespoons of chopped almonds
3/4 Cup of plain fat free yogurt
1/3 Cup of nonfat dry milk powder
Reduced calorie whipped topping

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine yogurt and dry milk powder togther until smooth.  Set the mixture in the refrigerator for an hour to let the flavors meld together.

After the above mixture has sat for an hour, continue with remaining ingredients.

In a medium bowl, combine dry pudding mix and cold coffee.  Stir until dissolved.  Mix in the yogurt/milk mixture from above into the pudding/coffee mixture with a wire whisk.

Blend in almond extract.

Spoon the mousse mixture into 4 dessert dishes.  Spoon 2 Tablespoons of whipped topping onto each dish.  sprinkle 1-1/2 teaspoons almonds over top of each.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

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Beer Cheese Dip

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Nikki

This recipe is one of my families favorite pretzel dips.

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) Cream Cheese
1-1/2 Cups of Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Envelope Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix
1/3 Cup of Beer
Few Tablespoons of Green Onion or Chives

Directions:

1.)  Take out the two packages of cream cheese and let in soften on the counter.

 

2.) Chop up the green onion or chives.  The onion or chives are an important taste to this recipe.  If they are not added, the recipe tastes bland to my family.

3.) Place the cream cheese in a Kitchen Aid  Mixer.  Add 1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dry and 1/3 cup of beer.  Mix until smooth.  Add the cheese and the chives in the last few seconds to incorporate.

4.)  Transfer the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

5.)  Enjoy the dip with pretzels.

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Blue Cheese Potato Salad

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Nikki

I pretty much make all of my own salads instead of visiting the deli. A few weeks ago I stopped off to see what items they had prepared because I was looking for something different to try.  They had a blue cheese potato salad that looked scrumptious but I couldn’t bring myself to purchase it at $6.95 a pound.

Instead, I chose to take a guess at what ingredients were in the salad and make it for our backyard barbecue on the weekend.

There were two guests that didn’t care for blue cheese.  I told them, they had to follow the same rules as the children.  They had to try it, if they didn’t like it, then they didn’t have to eat it.  One bite and they were believers.  They went back for seconds too.

I enjoyed the salad too.  Next time I am going to add in a little fried bacon.  Yum!



Materials:
At least 5 medium boiled and chopped potatoes
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 cup celery (chopped)
2 tablespoons chives (chopped)

Dressing:
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Celery salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Combine the chopped potatoes, crumbled blue cheese, chopped celery and chives into a large bowl.  Prepare dressing and pour over salad and mix together.  Enjoy!

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Appletini

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Nikki

Specialty martini drinks are expensive when purchasing them while enjoying a night on the town. However, they are easy to prepare at home with friends and a much more cost effective way to entertain. There are so many different martini combinations that I am sure you will find one that you enjoy.  This is one of my favorites.

Ingredients:
4-6 ice cubes
Shaker
3 parts vodka
1 part apple schnapps
1 part Midori sour
Apple slices

Directions:
Place the ice cubes into a shaker.  Add in 3 parts of vodka, I prefer Ketel One or Grey Goose.  Add 1 part apple schnapps and 1 part Midori sour.  Make sure cover is in place and shake the mixture  to blend ingredients and to cool the liquid.  Open the shaker to expose the spout and pour into martini glasses.  Garnish glass with an apple wedge or float an apple slice on top.  If there is any remaining appletini mixture left over leave it in the shaker until your ready for refills.

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Teriyaki Marinade for Meat

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Nikki

Marinades 6 servings of meat at 2 Weight Watchers PointsPlus pts each for marinade only.
Grilled beef kabobs with teriyaki marinade. Yum!!


This marinade is wonderfully delicious on beef, pork or chicken.  The only draw back is the meat really does need to marinade for 12 plus hours.  So, you will need to pre-plan.  I whip up the marinade on Saturday morning and cut up the meat for shish kabobs too.  On Sunday afternoon, all I need to do is thread the shish kabobs and throw them on the grill.  The kabobs along with a tossed salad and drink is the perfect way to end the weekend.

Marinade:
1/2 Cup pineapple juice
1/4 Cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1 Tablespoon of oil
3/4 Teaspoon ginger
1 Minced clove of garlic
1/4 Teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.  Simmer until flavors are blended.  Marinade meat for 12+ hours for best results.  Discard marinade after use.

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Beet Hummus with Tortilla Wedges

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Nikki

Yum! Is all I can say. I love eating buttered beets and I have always prepared them one way. Now, I found another reason to grow even more this summer. Beet hummus with baked, salted tortilla wedges.

 

1-15 oz can of sliced beets or 3 medium fresh beets, cooked EXTREMELY soft.
2 Tablespoons Tahini
1 Garlic Clove (Minced)
1 Tablespoon Cumin
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/8 Pepper
5 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

Directions:

1.) Empty the 15 oz can of sliced beets or 3 fresh, cooked and sliced beets into a mix master. I use my mix master to start the break down of the beets. If you have a large food processor, skip this step completely and continue each additional step all in food processor.

 

2.) Add 2 Tablespoons Tahini

 

3.) 5 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

 

4.) Add Minced Garlic

 

5.) Add Salt and Pepper

 

6.) Mix all together if using mix master to form a thick sauce. If you are using a food processor right away, mix all ingredients together.

7.) Transfer the thick and chunky sauce to a food processor and plus a few times for a combined, smooth, thick sauce.

 

8.) Cut up flour tortillas into wedges and place on a cooking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray the tortilla wedges with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 7 minutes on one side and flip the wedges for and again spray and salt the second side. return the wedges to the oven for another 8 minutes. Remove the toasted wedge chips and serve with beet hummus.

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